Locking device for trunks



March 30 1926;

.M. H. LUCIE LOCKING mmca FOR mums Filed Jan. 17, 1.923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1M IN ENER. 016125; 4

ATTORNEYZ MAY 3% March 30,1926. 1,578,537

M. H. LUCE LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS File 17. 1923- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

' ATTORNEYJ:

Patented Mar. so, 1926.

UNITED' STATES PATENTfoF-Fl MILTON I-I. L'U'CE, OF KANSAS CITY,MISSOURI, Assren'on'ro WHEARYQBURGE mm];

Y, OF RACINE, vvrsconsnv; I

LOCKING DEVICE FOR TRUNKS. 7

Application filed January 17,1923. Serial No. 613,136.. h

To all whom it may concern. a

Be it known that I, MILTON H. Loon, a citizen of the United States,residingat Kansas City, coiuity of Jackson, and State of lviissournliaveinvented'new and useful Improvements in Locking Devices for Trunks, ofwhich the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to improvements in lockingdevices for trunks and isparticu larly applicable to wardrobe, trunks of the general typedisclosed in Letters Patentof the United States to George H; Whearv,

V 7 No. 1,134,175. dated April 6, 1915, although it is also applicableto ordinary trunks, such for example, as those disclosed in LettersPatentof the United States to said George H. Wheary, No. 1,158,412,dated October 26, 1915, and to numerous other trunks in common use.

The primary object of this invention is to provide improved meanswhereby the motion of a movable member associated with 1 a key operatedlock may be transmitted to one or more distant locking members toautomatically operate the latter, whereby theclosing and lockingtogether of the parts of a trunk at one point, will without anyattention on the part of the userresult in a doweling, binding andlocking together of trunk parts at one or more other points.

Further objects of this invention are to provide means whereby motiontransmitting mechanism located within one section of a trunkmay beutilized to operate locking devices located wholly or partially exteriorto the trunk walls ;to provide mean's'whereby auxiliary locking devices,-dependent for locking operations upon a movable member associated witha manually operable lock, may be automatically retracted when suchmovable member is unlocked or retracted to provide means whereby theauxiliary looking devices will effectively draw the associ ated sectionsof the trunk into binding relation with each other ;to provide'auxiliaryis to be packed.

locking devices [which may be I protected by 1, suitable'housingslocated in'part upon the interior face and in'part uponthe exterior faceof the associated wall of atrunk section which the housing alsoreenforces;*

to provide means whereby an auxiliary looking device, when released,will initially open or separate the parts controlled thereby; and ingeneral to provide auxiliary locking devices of the above described typewhich. .will not only be efiicient and: durableunder conditions ofsevere use, but which will'also a be capable of 'use without reducingthe capacity of the trunk, injuring its contents, or in any mannerinterfering with the useof the trunk for any ordinarypurpose orjtheproper packing or unpacking thereof.

As applied to wardrobe trunks, it is an 6 5:

object of my invention to provide means whereby all movable parts of theauxiliary locking mechanism may be mounted upon or in the wardrobesection of the trunk, leaving the interior of the body section whollyfree and unobstructed for the reception of packed fabricsor theoperation of drawers or other receptacles within which clothing ordinarywardrobe trunkhas a body section which is usually subdivided by shelves,

It is well knownthatthe drawers or partitions into compartments withinwhich clothing may be packed-"or within some: of which articles may beplaced which would be injured by; compression or packing. One othersection, commonly termed the. wardrobe section, is utilized to receivearticles of wearing apparel whichmay be suspended from hangers mountedmechanisms for locking the trunk sections together, inasmuchas suchparts elth'er occupy space exterior to 1 the drawers or othercompartments and thereby reduce'the capacity of the trunk body or allowthe upon suitable supports at one end of the articles packed in thetrunk body to contact with and be injured by such'inovable parts.

This invention, therefore, contemplates alocation of the movableconnections for the auxiliary locking devices in the wardrobe sectionwhere suspended clothing will bear only lightly against the lockingdevices even 7 if the latter are exposed.

Inthe drawingsiz- V V Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view or" awardrobetru'nk equipped with my improved locking niecl anisn i thesection being draw-n wardrobe section showing my improved loci ln'gmechan sm applied to one side wall.

to a plane transverse to that-which includes the meeting edges of thebody and wardrobe sections. 7

Fig. '2 is a view of a fragment of the thereof.

Fig. 3 is a detail View of the locking lever .andfassoci-ated catchplate.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the locking lever showing the catch in sectionon line l i of Fig. 3..

Fig. 5 1s a ti agmentary view 01 the uppei end. of a wardrobe trunk,partly in elevationta'nd partly section, showinga slight modification. i

Fig. .6 is :an elevation of an ordinary trunk illustrating my inventionas applied thereto.

Fig/7 isasimilar view showing a slight modification of the structuredisclosed in Fig. 6.

Fig.

8 is main" view ofthe manually controlledfp-o-rtion of the lockoperating means employed in the structure disclosed in Fig.

6,'the"tragnient of the side wall of the body portion of the trunk beingshown in horizontal section.

Fig. 59 is a similar view of the corresponding mechanism employed in thestructure disclosed in Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 isa view of the same as seen "from the inner side of the'trunkwall.

Like parts areidentified by the same reference characters throughout theseveral 7 views.

- 1 shows a wardrobe'tr-iuilr having a body section 1, a wardrobe560M011 '2, and a lid or cover section 3-, all organized andarrangedsubstantially as disclosed in said former patent to George'I-l. "iVliez'iry, No.

"inner face of the side wall 13 of the wardrobe section and 'the flange'8 has a semi cylindrical offset portion 10 which forms a guideway forthe vertically disposed operating bar 11 and a partial enclosure for acoiled, compression spring 12, the

lower end o'f which is anchored to the bottom of the 'guideway 10 andthe upper end of which is seated against a bracket 13 carried by the bar11.

The lower end of the bar 11 is provided with a slot 14 in which a pin 15carried by the power end of the lever 4 is loosely engaged. The otherend of the lever is offset and positioned. within a notch 17 formed inthe supporting side wall 13. oi the wardrobe section 2 and this offsetportion of thelever is provided at its free endwith a projecting stud18, preferably exterior to said section wall, but protected by a housingplate or member 19 which may constitute an extension of the reenforcingcorner piece 20; y i I A housing 19 also forms a dowelingpocket toreceive a dowel-ing catch plate 22 carried by the opposing wall of thebody section 1. This doweling catch plate is'prov-ided with a curvedslot 28 adapted to receive the stud 18 carried. by the lever 4 when saidlever is swung to locking POSltlOll. The outer margin of the slot 28 isso formed that the stud 18 may move with a wedging action thereon whenthe lever islswu-ng to locking position, thereby drawing theopposingside walls of the wardrobe section and-body section into bindingpressure contact. The inner wall of the slot 28 is also 'formed toreceive the pressure of the stud 18 while the lever is being swung fromlooking to unlocking osition, whereby said opposing walls may beinitially separatedidurin'g this movement of the locking lever. I

The spring 12 tends to hold the bar 11 in a raised position with theinner end of the lever a correspondingly raised and the outer or lookingend, with the locking stud 18, depressed to releasing position, i. e.,to

a position with the stud 18 withdrawn from the doweling catch plate 22.The lever 41 is swung to locking position by applying downwardpressuretotlie bar 1.1 and this downward pressure may be applied by the lid orcover section 3, preferably through a bracket 25 secured to the-innerface of said section '111' a position to bear uponth e upper end of thebar llfland' push said bar downwardly when the lid or cover section 8 isswung to closed position. Said lid or cover section may. be locked inclosed position as disclosed in said former Patent No.

1,184,175, but as no specific locking ineclia- .n-ism 1S,6SS8I1l112Llit"is not deemed necessary It is obvious 22, in which position the edgesof the ward robesection of the trunk will be in binding pressureengagement with the meeting edges or margins of the body section.

Guide clips 27 and 28are preferably ap plied to the side wall .13 of thewardrobe section to 'hold the rod 11 in "operating position. i In Fig.the parts illustrated are identical with those illustrated in Fig. 1,except that the locking bar 11 is made a little longer and thelidsection 3 is" not provided with the bracket 25., The top of the lidsection 8, therefore, bears directly upon the operating piece or barll.

In Fig. 6 a trunk is illustrated with a body section 1 and a coversection 2 which may betaken as representative of any ordinary trunk incommon" use The cover section is locked to the body section by anordinary key operated lock having a'hasp 3 which correspondsfunctionally with the lid3 shown in Fig. 1 so far as the inventionherein dlsclosed is concerned. The hasp 3 constitutes a swinging member,the motion of which is utilized to actuate the operating piece or bar 11through means similar to that disclosed in said formerpatent'to lVhearyNo. 1,290,445, i. e., through the curved lever arm 35 disclosed in Fig.8 of the drawings of this application. The hasp In the structuredisclosed in Fig. 6 the locking lever 4 directly co-operates with the 7key operated lock to hold the respective ends of the lid section 2 111contact with the opposing margins of the body section. One key is,therefore, utilized to lock the lid section to the body section at twowidely separated points.

T If greater security in the fastening of. the

lid section is desired, the structure illustrated in Figs. 7, 9, and 10may be utilized. In these views a trunk is illustrated in which the hasp3 is centrally located and the locking barrel 39 is utilized to actuatetwo oppositely disposed, curved levers and 40, respectively. The lever35 fact-uates an operating bar 11 in exactly the same manner as abovedescribed with reference to Fig. 6, whereby the locking lever 4" nearone end of the trunk is actuated to locking pos1 tion.

direction transmits motion through a slidmg bar 11 to a lockmglever 4located near the other end of the trunk dlsclosed 111 Fig. 7*. Thelid-of this trunk is, of course,

provided with two doweling catches 22 and 22 which are,'respectively,'engaged by thelocking levers 4t and 4;". i

From the foregoing description of; the modified forms disclosed in Figs.5, 6, and 7, it will be obvious that. myinventi0n is not limited to the,use of any particular manually operable swinging member for actuatingan operating piece or b'ar, such as the bar 11, to transmit motion tothe looking lever. Any member of the trunk, such as the cover 3, whichrequires to benianually operated or moved when closing the trunk maybeutilized to apply the necessary power to the operating piece 11 andtrans- -mit motion to the point where a locking engagement is to beautomaticallyeliected. However actuatedto lockingxposition, it is'obvious that my improved locking"mecl1 anism isefiective to accurately.dowel ;the parts to be locked, draw them together witlr'bindingpressure and not only release them when the manually operablemember I is moved to releasing position, but automatically separatetheminitially to a suflicient eXtent'to allow the user to grasp theseparated margins and to open the body and wardrobe sections of thetrunk without dif- As applied to a wardrobe trunk,- my in vention hasthe further advantage above noted, viz, that all ofthe parts arelocated. I

outside ofthe bodysection andallof the movable parts are located withinor upon the wardrobe section. Also the locking mechanismper se islocated at the lower end of the WfLlCll'ObG -section below'the pointreachedby any but the longest garments to be suspended within saidsection, these locking parts furthermore being housed in suchai'ina'nner as to prevent them from catching in the fabric 01"any-clothing contained in said section. 'The dowelingmembers and thelocking'st'ud 18 are located wholly outside of the section so that thereis nodanger, of clothing being caught. by the doweling catch-22'and'forced intoth'e housing 19 or entangled with the stud 18.

1. Trunk locking mechanism" comprising the combination withthe meetingmargins of two trunk sections,-ot a locking lever fulcrumed 'to the wallof one section, the adjacent margin of the section being recessed andsaid lever having an oliset portion adapted for swinging movementinsaid' portion of the lever, and a co-operating catch carried by; theregistering wall member of. i V the opposing trunk section. The lever 40similarly. but in the opposite n I the combination with trunk sectionshav ng matingsmargins, of a fixed catch on the side wall of onesectionadapted to'serve as a 2. Trunk locking mechanism comprising dowehngmember, a;.hous1ng on the oppos-' ing side wall of the other sectionadapted to serve as a dowe-lm-g socket, a locking lever wlthin said lastmentioned housing,

. fulcrumed thereto, and having an offset portion in said dowelingsocket adapted to engage the doweling catch to #lock the latter in saidsocket. V I

. 3. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunksections hav- 111g mating margins, of a tired catch on the side Wall ofone section adapted to serve as a doweling member, a housing on theopposing side wall of the other section adapted to serve as a dowelingsocket, a locking lever within said last mentioned section, vtulcrumedthereto and having an offset portion in said doweling socket adapted toengage .the d'oweli-ng catchto lock the-latter insaid socket, a distantmanually operable, member, and motion transmiltting connections forutilizing its movement in :one direction to vactuate said lever tolocking position. 7 r p st.- Tru-nk locking mechanism comprising thecombination with trunk sections having mating margins, of a fixed catchonvthe side wall of one section exterior to the inner surface ot thewall, a lever tulcru'med to the opposing wall of the other section andhaving a projection adapted to engage said catch, an operating piece.pivoted to the lever, a' manually operable actuating member adapted tomove the operating piece in one direct on, and means for automaticallymoving the operating piece .in the other direction when relieved ot thepressure of the actuating member.

, 5. Ina trunl locking mechanism, the combination with a trunk sectionwallprovided with a recess, of a lockinglever tulcrumed adjacent to saidrecess and having a working end portionottset into said recess. andprovided with a locking projection, a sliding bar mounted upon the innertaceof said section and having slotted pivotal connection with onendo'tthe lever, resilient means for normally holding the bar and lever in unmeans for normallyholding the bar and "lever in unlocking position,.manually operable means for actuating said bar to swing the lever intolocking position, said manually :operable means hav ng a key-controlledlock 4 moved to unlocking position adapted to hold the manually.operable means and thereby the bar and lover in locking position. Y

7. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with trunksections having meeting .margins, of a fixed catch on the side wall, ofonesection providing a curved slot, a lever fulcrumed to theopposingwall of thejother section and having a projection adapted to engage insaid slot, motion transmitting connections for actuating said lever tolocking position from a distant point, and a spring for retracting saidlever when the actuating pressure is relieved, said slot havin curvedmar ins ada ated :to be on n ed by the projection on the lever and soformed as to draw the sections together when the lever moves to lockingposition and to force them apart to some extent when the lever is 8. Ina trunk locking mechan with a recess, of a 'doweling housing on one sideof said recess, a lever housing on the other side of said recess, alever fulcrumed ,within the .lever housing and having apo-rtionextending into the dowelinghousing, and another trunk section providedwith a catch "adapted to enter; the dowelinghousing when the sectionsare closed together, said catch being adapted to be engaged by 'saidlever. H

9. Ina trunk locking mechanisn'i, the combination with a trunk sectionwall provided with a recess, of a doweling housing on one side of said.recess, a-.lever housing .on the other side of said recess, a levertnlcrumed withln the lever hous ng and having a portion extending intothe doweling housing,

another trunk section provided with a catch adapted to enter thedoweling housing when the sections are closed together, said catch beingadapted to be engage'd by said lever, together with a manually foperabledevice for securing said sectionstogether at point distant from saidlever, and means tor automatically transmitting motion from the manuallyoperable securing device tofmove said .lever to locking position whenthe securingdevice is insecuring position. i

p ism, the .com- 7 'bination'wrth a :trunk section wall provided 10.Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with .a trunk havinga body section, a Wardrobe section, and a lid section adaptedwto closeone end of the wardrobe section, of means exterior to the body sectionand wardrobe section for doweling and locking said sections togethernear their lower ends, and lock actuating means within the wardrobe sction adapted to be actuated by the lid section into locking position,to gether with means for automatically releasing the wardrobe sectionfrom lock engagement with the body section when the lid section israised.

1'1. Trunk locking mechanism comprising the combination with a trunkhaving a body section, a wardrobe section, and a lid section adapted tocloseone end of the wardrobe section, of a doweling catch projectingfrom the lower end of the body section, a locking to engage the dowelingcatch, means for transmitting motion from the lid'section to saidlocking lever to move the same into such 10 engagement, and means forautomatically retracting the lever when the lid section is swung to openposition.

MILTON H. 'LUGE.

